Kiev hopes to get visa-free regime with EU in 2016

September 08, 2015, 10:58 UTC+3KIEVUkrainian Foreign Minister says there is hope that by December 15 Kiev will have a positive report on the reforms that Ukraine should complete within the framework of moving towards a visa-free regime

KIEV, September 8. /TASS/. Kiev hopes that next year it will be able to get a "technical possibility" of introducing a visa-free regime with the European Union, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Tuesday.

"We all hope that by December 15 we will have a final report, positive report on the reforms that Ukraine should complete within the framework of the so-called ‘second phase’ of moving towards a visa-free regime. And then, next year, we all hope that it will be technically possible to introduce a visa-free regime," he said in an interview with Radio Liberty.

Klimkin also said that three missions of the European Commission have visited Ukraine this week to check the progress of reforms in the key spheres. "As I understand it, the results are quite positive," he said, noting that several more missions were expected to arrive in the coming weeks.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on August 27 after talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that the country had made great progress towards a visa-free regime. However, he said, Ukraine still needed to take additional efforts, in particular, in the fight against corruption.